The Longest Day

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2007)

I agree with the depth of D-Day being captured fabulously by this film. I used to watch this with my Dad on TV whenever it was on. I will always remember the dum-dum-de-dum intro because it was so foreboding. As an adult I've watched it. For the first-time viewer it can be difficult to keep track of all the players because the first 20 minutes or so of the movie certainly throws a lot at you. With repeat viewings it gets easier. It's too bad that we never learn the fate of Henry Fonda's character since Teddy Roosevelt Jr. perished in the invasion but the film does not point this out. The last we see of Fonda is when he is wading onto Utah beach with his regiment. Also, the cast credits on IMDb list Lee Strasberg in a minor role but I've never been able to locate him in the film. Any help with this? All in all, "The Longest Day" remains one of the penultimate war films of the 1960's (along with "Guns Of Navarone", "The Great Escape", "The Dirty Dozen" and maybe "Von Ryan's Express".) Would've loved to have seen more of Rod Steiger and Richard Burton and others but, I guess you can fit only so many international faces on screen in three hours.